1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper sheet handling device such as the one mounted in a cash automatic transaction device used in, for example, a banking institution.
2. Description of Related Arts
Conventionally, in a cash automatic transaction device used in a banking institution or the like, for paper sheet of a specific denomination (kind of paper currency when classification is made based on a value written on the paper currency), for example, to withdraw only the paper currency with a specific property (kind of the paper currency when the paper currency is classified based on an element other than the denomination), as many paper currency housing units capable of withdrawal as the number of combinations of a denomination to be withdrawn in the paper sheet handling device and its property are prepared. Then the denomination to be handled in each paper currency housing unit and its property are determined and the paper currency housing unit from which withdrawal is performed by the cash automatic transaction device is specified to thereby withdraw the paper currency of the specific kind with the specific property (for example, Japanese Patent Application No. H10-71690 and Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-189241).
In the conventional art, to withdraw paper currency with a specific property in addition to withdrawing a specific denomination, in order to keep the number of denominations that can be handled, the same number of housing units as that of combinations of a denomination to be withdrawn and its property are required, which leads to an increase in the number of housing units. As a result, a larger space is required for the paper sheet handling device or the automatic transaction device, raising a problem that the device itself is upsized. Such a situation is not limited to a case where the paper currency is to be withdrawn and similarly becomes a problem upon paper currency deposit. Moreover, even if it is possible to ensure such a space, to achieve synchronization between the paper sheet handling device and a high-level system (for example, cash automatic transaction device), in response to an increase in the number of housing units, a change in housing unit operations such as settings made on each housing unit from the high-level system or information acquisition therefrom is required.
On the other hand, to keep the number of housing units, the same number of housing units as that of properties handled are is required for each denomination, thus resulting in a decrease in the number of denominations that can be handled. As described above, the conventional technology has faced a problem that paper currency with an optical property cannot be deposited and withdrawn without reducing the number of denominations that can be handled and without changing the high-level system.